The problem with having many different versions of a specific web browser, such as Chrome, across different platforms is that they may not all have the same functionality at any given time. Google is working to fix that problem with a push to align versions of the Chrome browser across all platforms.

Google has announced that all versions of Chrome will be aligned across all platforms by early 2013.

The Chrome team said, "We expect an update to Chrome for Android starting with a developer update to happen before the end of the year, and we’re actively working towards aligning releases across all platforms, including Android, starting early next year."

It's unclear exactly what this alignment will mean for the Android version of Chrome. Chrome on Android fans might be getting things such as better plug-in support, extensions, and more API functionality. With no specifics offered, only time will tell.

What happens when you need to access a website on the go and they're still using Flash. You can scream at the web master all you want, but you're still stuck.

Yes, this is a real scenario. While on travel, a friend and I wanted tickets to an event, but she couldn't order them on her iPhone. I was able to, but only because my phone supported it. Should that website have been updated to HTML5? Absolutely. But that doesn't help you right now, does it?

While I'm all for the phasing out of Flash, it still needs to be supported for those times when you need it.

All issues with Flash aside, this is a pretty ignorant statement.. So web developers are supposed to turn their backs on 20 years of flash development which basically created the media-rich net experience we enjoy today, in order to work on the minority of HTML5 enabled browsers (in terms of users)..?

You obviously haven't done much web work.. Most of my time coding styles I spend just trying to get them to work the same across all browsers, as each has their own special css properties which must be used (moz-, webkit-, khtml-, etc -- most are gone in modern versions, though most users never update). Add on top of that, the most popular browser is still IE6 -- so add in a bunch more tricks to do simple things like using transparent PNG's and GIF's. Backwards compatibility is a hell of a lot more important than 'forwards-compatibility'.

Finally, the HTML5 spec isn't even close to finished yet! Devs have been sitting on their hands for years, leaving it to programmers from companies like Google and Apple to lend a helping hand to make sure it eventually gets certified. <Video> is the only useful addition so far (don't get me started on <canvas>), and nobody can even decide on what codec standards to use yet! Codec woes, or flash.. give me flash.

Use ActionScript & MXML for a while, experience the lack of modern programming language features, browse the spotty documentation, adore that DST causes a wrench in the gears when bouncing between Linux & Windows, etc...

quote: Amazon Instant Video, for example, only works on flash on Android because it has yet to have a dedicated app.

There are still videos on YouTube that don't work on flash.

This is incredibly bizarre. Amazon Instant Video has been on iOS for ages, and you figure that most of the legwork getting it to work on Android has been done given that it works on the Kindle Fire. Amazon really should release a dedicated app to work on other Android devices.

Point me to a Youtube video that doesn't work on Flash, I haven't found one in years, ditto any other major website that serves video. Flash has been irrelevant on mobile for ages, and Amazon Instant Video on Android aside (again, bizarre) I don't see any missing gaps. Well, I do know some specific examples like the GSL Starcraft video page not working with Android, but again that is a very specific thing. Its also pretty standard given that iOS is still the main target for compatibility with web and app developers.